DS Automobiles DS 3 History

The DS 3 was the car that launched the DS brand: introduced as the Citroën DS3 in August 2009 and on sale from January 2010, it was a three-door premium supermini aimed squarely at the MINI Cooper, with a distinctive floating roof, shark-fin B-pillar, and almost limitless personalisation options. It won Top Gear's Car of the Year for 2010 and, by 2013, held roughly 40 percent of the European premium subcompact market.

A soft-top DS3 Cabrio arrived in 2013 after its Paris Motor Show reveal. The whole first-generation range was rebadged from Citroën DS3 to simply DS 3 in 2015–2016 as DS Automobiles was separated from Citroën. Production of the original hatchback and Cabrio ended in 2019.

The second generation, launched in 2018 as the DS 3 Crossback (the 'Crossback' suffix was dropped in a 2022 facelift), transformed the model into a five-door crossover SUV on the PSA EMP1 platform. An all-electric E-Tense version was offered from the outset — one of the first premium electric small SUVs in Europe. The facelifted DS 3 (from 2022) is offered exclusively as a battery-electric vehicle in several European markets.